Body of Man Missing for a Month Found in Crashed Car Under Bridge: Police

An Indiana man who was missing for more than a month has been found dead in his crashed car that ended up in a creek, according to police.

The body of Kenneth Brian Colbert, 47, from Evansville, was located under a bridge on Friday, January 20, by Indiana State Police (ISD) detective Toni Walden who carried out a search along Old U.S. 41 south of CR 150 South.

During the search, Walden located Colbert's maroon 2017 Toyota Avalon under a bridge, and a man matching his description was found inside the vehicle.

Sgt Todd Ringle, of the ISD's Evansville District, said in a Saturday, January 21, Facebook post: "Indiana State Police believe that sometime during the evening on December 9th, Colbert was traveling south on Old US 41 south of CR 150 South when he drove left of center, left the roadway on the east side, dropped down into the deep ravine, overturned and entered Pigeon Creek near the bridge.

"Anyone traveling on Old US 41 would not have been able to see the vehicle. Detectives also believe that when the creek level increased due to recent rainfall, the vehicle moved under the bridge making it even more difficult to spot."

On Saturday, Gibson County Coroner Barrett Doyle identified the man in the vehicle as Colbert.

An autopsy was also carried out but results are pending, according to Sgt Ringle's Facebook post.

A Sunday, January 22 statement shared on Facebook by the group Chaos Divers, who helped search for Colbert, explained they did not search near that section of Pigeon Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River.

"That section of Pigeon Creek is, from what we understand from the family when they went down to look around the scene, is it's not even ankle-deep. So, for us, Pigeon Creek wasn't something in that area that we were searching."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 38,824 people lost their lives on American roads in 2020.

Family members first reported Colbert, who was employed at Toyota Boshoku in Princeton, as missing on December 10.

He was last seen at a coworker's home in Princeton. He was seen driving his maroon vehicle the day before.

While he was reported missing to the Evansville Police Department, the investigation was turned over to the ISD as he was last seen in Princeton.

According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS), there are 224 open missing persons cases in Indiana.

NamUS added that the state also reported having 285 resolved cases. The national information center stated 600,000 people go missing across the U.S. every year.

Newsweek has contacted Sgt. Ringle for comment.